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Agence France-Presse

A new Palestinian government that contains both Gazans and four women was sworn in Sunday, but was already facing scepticism from its own people.
The Palestinian Authority led by Mahmoud Abbas is under pressure from Washington to prepare to step into the breach in the aftermath of the Gaza war and undertake reforms.
Newly appointed prime minister Mohammad Mustafa said his government’s “top national priority” was ending the war as he named his new team.
He said his cabinet “will work on formulating visions to reunify the institutions, including assuming responsibility for Gaza”.

President Abbas, 88, is being nudged by the United States to shake the creaking authority up so it can reunite the occupied West Bank and devastated Gaza under a single rule after the war.
The Palestinian Authority has had almost no influence over Gaza since Hamas took power there in 2007 from Abbas’ Fatah party.
World court orders Israel to take action to address Gaza famine
Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Abbas to make “administrative reforms” when the two men met in January.
Abbas’ Ramallah-based administration has been hamstrung by Israel’s decades-old occupation of the West Bank and his own unpopularity.
Mustafa, an economist and long-time Abbas adviser, said the “reconstruction” of the Palestinian territories was his main goal, with Gaza in ruins after six months of Israeli bombardment in retaliation for the October 7 attack.
His new cabinet is made up of 23 ministers and includes four women and six ministers from Gaza, among them former Gaza City mayor Maged Abu Ramadan who has been given the health portfolio.
Among the new female faces is Varsen Aghabekian, a Palestinian-Armenian academic who will work alongside Mustafa in the foreign ministry, which he also controls.
The premier, who previously worked for the World Bank, said the thorny issue of Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem was also a top priority along with the “fight against corruption”.




But many doubt whether the Palestinian Authority – which has been dogged by divisions, corruption scandals and the authoritarian tendencies of its ageing leader – can be a credible player in any future deal.
Ali Jarbawi, a former PA minister and political scientist, said it faces massive challenges on all fronts.
“It is broke and it’s in debt and can’t pay its salaries, so it needs immediate financial support,” he said.
And it needs to be accepted by both Palestinian factions – Fatah which controls the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza.
“Thirdly it needs a political horizon, from the international community, and a commitment to the two-state solution,” Jarbawi said.
Israel unveils big West Bank land seizure as Antony Blinken visits
And none of that can happen unless the “Israeli government, the army and settlers in the West Bank ease the pressure” on Palestinians, he added.
Senior Hamas member Bassem Naim criticised Abbas’s policies.
“His hijacking of the unified Palestinian decision-making” is dangerous for “our cause at this very critical stage in the history of our people,” he told Agence France-Presse.
He said Hamas “proposed sitting down for the sake of national dialogue and rebuilding the political system … but Abbas blocked all these attempts.”
Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Marxist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine issued a joint statement earlier this month declaring that Mustafa’s appointment would only deepen Palestinian divisions.
People on the streets of Ramallah, where the authority is based, were equally sceptical.
“Changing the government will not solve anything because change to us comes only from the outside,” said Suleiman Nassar, 56.
“We know very well that any minister or any Palestinian government will not get in without an American or Israeli” approval he said.


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Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa after swearing in. Photo: EPA-EFE

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Anti-government protesters in Jerusalem on Sunday. Photo: Reuters

Israelis protest in Jerusalem. Photo: dpa

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Tents housing displaced Palestinians in Rafah in southern Gaza on the border with Egypt on Saturday. Photo: AFP

News

World

Middle East

Palestinian PM Mohammad Mustafa said his government’s ‘top national priority’ was ending the war in Gaza
The Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in Israeli-occupied West Bank, faces challenges


A new Palestinian government that contains both Gazans and four women was sworn in on Sunday, but was already facing scepticism from its own people.


United States

Israel

Armenia

New Palestinian government gets wary greeting

Palestinian PM Mohammad Mustafa said his government’s ‘top national priority’ was ending the war in Gaza The Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in Israeli-occupied West Bank, faces challenges

Palestinian PM Mohammad Mustafa said his government’s ‘top national priority’ was ending the war in Gaza

The Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in Israeli-occupied West Bank, faces challenges